Light of Orion. Betelgeuse is the largest visible star. Explosion of betelgeuse What is more crossbar or betelgeuse
Who among you would not dream of witnessing an epoch-making departure from earthly sky one of the most notable stars?
According to some sources, the right shoulder of the celestial hunter, at any moment, can emit its last breath in the form of a long and bright supernova flash, leaving behind an empty place invisible to the naked eye.
This will completely change the look that so beautifully enlivens the winter sky of our latitudes. Should we expect this event in our lifetime, and does it pose a threat to our planet?
According to a number of news feeds, a grandiose supernova explosion could ignite at any second. Betelgeuse will increase its brightness by a thousand times and will illuminate the sky for several months until it gradually goes out and leaves behind a growing one with an invisible neutron star or black hole at its center. Such a cosmic catastrophe does not threaten us with anything serious, unless one of the poles of the exploding star is directed towards the Earth. The flow of gamma rays and charged particles will create some problems with the magnetic environment and the ozone layer of the planet and its atmosphere. Is there any reason to trust such information, or is it just another media horror story?
Probability of explosion
Scientists do not deny the possibility of such an outcome. However, it is not known for certain whether the luminary will explode tomorrow, or in a million years, it is also unknown whether it will explode at all. Despite the power of modern astronomy, knowledge about the life of the stars seems to be re-experiencing its infancy. The paradox of the existence of giants, the problems of modeling star formation in close systems cast doubt on the established scientific paradigms about the life of stars. The discovery of objects that do not fit into the framework of existing theories is likely to create more questions than answers. An example of this is even the well-known Betelgeuse, about which, it would seem, we should know everything.
Unknown Betelgeuse
What do we know about Betelgeuse? An amateur astronomer, pointing a finger at a reddish light, will talk about its colossal size, variability and other publicly available facts. And, in order to excite the imagination of the listener, he will add that if you put it in the place of the Sun, then all the planets of the terrestrial group would be in the bowels of the supergiant, and possibly even. In this he will be right, but no matter how strange it may be, a professional astronomer will operate with almost the same set of knowledge about the red giant. For example, the exact size, mass and distance to Betelgeuse has not yet been established.
Distances to the star are estimated at such rough limits as 420-650, some sources give completely terrifying boundaries from 180 to 1300 light years. Estimation of the mass and radius values also do not differ in accuracy and vary within 13-17 solar masses and 950-1200 solar radii, respectively. Such large discrepancies are explained by the fact that, due to its remoteness, the distances to Betelgeuse cannot be measured by the method annual parallax. In addition, Betelgeuse is neither a double star nor part of any close cluster. This feature does not allow one to correctly estimate the mass and other characteristics of the star, including the absolute luminosity.
Even the fact that Betelgeuse became the first star (naturally, after the Sun) for which it was possible to measure the angular size and obtain a detailed image of its disk, in fact, does not give us any significant data regarding its parameters and nature.
The situation is similar with the whole "stellar" section of astronomy. Scientists not only have to develop new models that describe the mechanisms of formation, evolution and death of stars, but also radically reshape the old ones. For example, how to explain the existence of recently discovered stars with a mass of 200-250 solar masses, if the upper theoretical limit until recently was estimated at 150 solar masses? How to explain the nature of gamma-ray bursts? Not far off are other discoveries that will continue to baffle astronomers.
Will there be an explosion?
Returning to Betelgeuse, one can make a kind of verdict to those sources that declare the imminent appearance of the brightest “farewell fireworks” in our sky. Astronomers make it clear that such an event, although it has a very real probability of happening before our eyes, but this probability is extremely small, and it is not possible to estimate it. Naturally, the media, trying to revive the public, remake these cautious statements in their own way.
Supernova explosions are classified as those cosmic events that are observed de facto. There was no case in science that a supernova explosion was registered, which was predicted and expected in advance. For this reason, astronomers can only indirectly judge the processes preceding the explosion.
With regard to Betelgeuse, scientists confidently state that the star is in its final life stage, when the current percentage of carbon and subsequent heavy elements can no longer support stable thermonuclear processes. According to existing models, this will most likely lead to the termination of the hydrodynamic equilibrium of the star, in other words, to a supernova explosion. There is also the possibility that Betelgeuse will end its life not so brightly, but will simply gradually shed its shell, turning into an oxygen-neon white dwarf.
Anyway modern science unable to set an exact date for the explosion, or to deny the very fact that there will be one. The resulting media frenzy over the appearance of a “second Sun” erupted after there was controversy in the global astronomical community over the rapid decline in the average brightness and size of Betelgeuse. Many astronomers confidently stated that such a phenomenon is explained by an imminent supernova explosion, which, by cosmic standards, is about to come - over the next two millennia. Others are more restrained in their forecasts, and explain the extinction of the star by some temporary or periodic processes. This unannounced astronomical dispute shows how much new and unknown scientists have to learn.
A dream on a galactic scale
Undoubtedly, a bright light in the sky would inspire people to forgotten thoughts about how insignificant they are in the universe. One has only to think for a moment that the same explosion can be observed by possible inhabitants of other distant systems of our vast galaxy. Such stellar news will bring real invaluable benefits to astronomers. If such a close and expected supernova explosion occurs in our lifetime, the curious eyes of all types of telescopes and other equipment will be directed in its direction. In convulsive elation, scientists will fill their databases with tons of valuable information coming with the light of the explosion. Every day from all over the world information about the next sensational discovery. But these are just vague dreams.
Reality dictates its own rules. The explosion of Betelgeuse is not only not to be feared or even expected to be seen, in fact one can only dream of it. All the more bright light, if it were lit before our eyes, would hardly be compared in brightness with the full moon and would not bring us any significant harm. In the meantime, we have the opportunity to continue to observe the red star of Orion and hope that astronomers will replenish their knowledge without such rare and amazing events.
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List of brightest stars
| № | Name | Distance, St. years | Apparent magnitude | Absolute value | Spectral class | celestial hemisphere |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0,0000158 | −26,72 | 4,8 | G2V | ||
| 1 | 8,6 | −1,46 | 1,4 | A1Vm | Southern | |
| 2 | 310 | −0,72 | −5,53 | A9II | Southern | |
| 3 | 4,3 | −0,27 | 4,06 | G2V+K1V | Southern | |
| 4 | 34 | −0,04 | −0,3 | K1.5IIIp | Northern | |
| 5 | 25 | 0.03 (variable) | 0,6 | A0Va | Northern | |
| 6 | 41 | 0,08 | −0,5 | G6III + G2III | Northern | |
| 7 | ~870 | 0.12 (variable) | −7 | B8Iae | Southern | |
| 8 | 11,4 | 0,38 | 2,6 | F5IV-V | Northern | |
| 9 | 69 | 0,46 | −1,3 | B3Vnp | Southern | |
| 10 | ~530 | 0.50 (variable) | −5,14 | M2Iab | Northern | |
| 11 | ~400 | 0.61 (variable) | −4,4 | B1III | Southern | |
| 12 |
Constellation of Orion
- one of the most beautiful and rich in space wonders. There is a whole spectrum of different space objects from nebulae to unique stars. Among these miracles there is a real giant among the stars - Betelgeuse
, also called Alpha Orion
. The generally accepted version is that the name Betelgeuse comes from the distorted Yad al-Jawz - "the hand of the Twin" (Arabic). This star has other names: "Al-Mankib" ("shoulder"), "Ardra", "Nakshatra" (Hindi), "Bahu" (Sanskrit), "Claria" (Coptic, "bandage").
This is really a very interesting star, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, and one of the largest stars in the observable Universe, also one of the possible candidates for a supernova explosion in the next few centuries, and even earlier in the Milky Way.
Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion is marked with a red circle.
To see Betelgeuse in the sky - find the constellation Orion and look at the red star of the upper triangle. Betelgeuse is a reddish star located in the right shoulder (left side) of the constellation Orion, and is the second brightest star in this constellation. It is a red supergiant, and its size is really impressive. If we place this star in the place of the Sun, then it would fill the entire space up to the orbit of Jupiter in the maximum size, and at the minimum - to the orbit of Mars. Betelgeuse brighter than the sun in 80 000 - 100 000
once. In this case, the mass of the star is only 13 — 17
solar, since its atmosphere is more rarefied and the density is much lower than that of the sun. The distance to the star is estimated at approximately 500-640
light years from Earth. It is a semi-regular variable star, that is, its luminosity and size change at different intervals. By using modern instruments it is possible to view the disk of the star, and in some cases spots on the surface, using infrared interferometry. The spots may be giant convective cells rising from beneath the supergiant's surface. Their increased brightness is due to the fact that they are hotter than the surrounding surface.
Betelgeuse is the first of the stars for which the angular diameter seen from Earth was measured (December 13, 1920), and it is approximately 0,047-0,055
arcsec. and varies with the luminosity of the star.
Spotted surface of Betelgeuse obtained using infrared interferometry
The spectral class of the star is M2Iab, and the temperature of the upper layers of the atmosphere (or, as they say, the surface) is about 3600º K ( 3326.85º C), which is much colder than the Sun's temperature of 5778º K ( 5504.85 ºС), which gives the star a reddish tint, against the yellow of the sun.
Photo of Betelgeuse taken by the Takahashi E-180 astrograph
The age of Betelgeuse is estimated at about 10 million years, which is a very short period of time by astronomical standards, for comparison, the age of the Sun is estimated at about 5 billion years (and the Sun has approximately the same amount of time left to “live”). Nevertheless, Betelgeuse is in one of the last stages of existence - burning out carbon in the star's core, and most scientists assume that in the relatively near future (several hundred years, or maybe at any moment) it can explode into class II supernova. Such a supernova explosion would be a very spectacular event. It will be visible even during the day and will be the brightest object in the sky after the Sun, and will shine like that for several weeks, since in a short period of time it will release as much energy as the Sun releases in its entire life. In a few centuries, only a nebula with a neutron star, or a black hole inside, will remain in place of the star. A similar nebula, for example, is the Crab Nebula.
Perhaps it has already exploded, but, alas, we will not see this for at least 500 years. At such a distance - a supernova explosion does not pose any threat to earthly life.
Betelgeuse is losing its outer shell. Photograph of the Herschel telescope
Some scientists believe that there will be no explosion, the star will simply shed its outer layers of the atmosphere, exposing a heavy dense core (presumably oxygen-neon) thus forming a white dwarf. The star is still constantly losing a large amount of its matter from the upper layers of the atmosphere, forming around itself a huge cloud of gas and dust. In the new photos, these gaseous nebulae around the star are clearly visible.
In the photo above, you can see several condensed arcs of matter on the left side of the image. Some scientists suggest that these arcs are completely unrelated to the star and are not matter that the star is losing, but rather a dark cloud of gas and dust that highlights Betelgeuse. If this is true, then in the future Betelgeuse is waiting for a collision with it. But that remains to be seen.
Photo of Betelgeuse taken by the Very Large Telescope in Chile
But still, most astronomers believe that the gas plume belongs to the substance that the star has thrown off itself. A recent image from the Very Large Telescope in Chile resolves not only the disk of the star, but also the huge plume of gas surrounding the star. This trail allows us to understand how a massive star is losing matter as it approaches the end of its life. The researchers found a strong flow of the interstellar medium around the star, which originates in star-forming regions in Orion's Belt and has a speed of 11 km / s. Betelgeuse crosses this stream at 30 km/s, spewing solar wind at 17 km/s. Observational data obtained earlier indicate that over the past decade the surface of Betelgeuse has significantly decreased, but the luminosity has not changed. Scientists have not yet been able to explain this.
Betelgeuse photo of the Orbital Telescope. E. Hubble.
P.S. Admin
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It is noteworthy that during the observation period from 1993 to 2009, the diameter of the star decreased by 15 %
, With 5,5
to about 4.7, and by 2011 to 4,5
astronomical unit, and astronomers are not yet able to explain what this is connected with. At the same time, the brightness of the star did not change noticeably during this time.
The reasons for the observed decrease in the radius of Betelgeuse may also be associated with an incorrect interpretation of the data obtained, for example:
differences in the brightness of different parts of the star's surface; due to rotation, these irregularities change position, as a result of which the apparent brightness changes. These changes can be taken as diameter changes.
Modeling of supergiant stars suggests that such stars may be non-spherical, similar to an irregularly shaped potato. It is assumed that Betelgeuse may have a rotation period 18
years, that is, while Betelgeuse was observed by orbiting telescopes for less than one revolution around its axis.
It is possible that scientists are not observing the true diameter of the star, but a certain layer of dense molecular gas, the movements of which create the appearance of a change in the true size of the star.
There is a gaseous nebula around the star, which for a long time could not be seen due to the fact that it is obscured by the light of the star.
largest visible star
On the right shoulder of Orion, in the crown of the Winter Hexagon, the beautiful Betelgeuse shines in the winter skies.
Constellation of Orion. Betelgeuse is a reddish-orange star in the upper left corner of the constellation.
This star is called Alpha Orion for a reason, although the dazzling bluish Rigel - in the photo in the lower right corner - is brighter most of the time. Betelgeuse - in many ways unique star, which astronomers have been exploring for many years and discovering more and more Interesting Facts.
First, Betelgeuse is one of the most big stars in the Universe. Its diameter is more than the diameter of the Sun by about a thousand times. Even the largest known star, VY Big Dog, surpasses Betelgeuse in diameter by only two times (and, accordingly, eight times in volume). So it is not in vain that this star bears the proud title of a red supergiant.
If it were in place of the Sun, it would almost fill the orbit of Saturn:
Only eight known stars (all red hypergiants) surpass Betelgeuse in volume, but they all look very dim in the earth's sky. The reason is simple: Betelgeuse is much closer than all of them.
Betelgeuse is 640 light-years away, which is very short on the scale of the Galaxy. Betelgeuse is the closest supergiant to us.
An interesting conclusion follows from this: Betelgeuse in the earth's sky has the largest apparent diameter of all stars (after the Sun, of course.)
It is clear that everything that is less than an arc minute in diameter is perceived by the human eye as a point. The angular diameters of absolutely all stars (except the Sun) are less than an arc minute, so they all look like dots. In fact, of course, all their angular diameters are different. The angular diameter of Betelgeuse was first determined in 1920 as 0.047 arc seconds, which was the largest angular diameter of a star then known. Since then, however, the star R Doradus, invisible in the northern hemisphere, has been discovered, the angular diameter of which turned out to be 0.057 arcseconds. But even in the southern hemisphere it is almost invisible: at maximum brightness it is hardly visible to the naked eye, and at minimum it can not be seen in every telescope. R Doradus is so cold that it emits mostly infrared radiation. But since then, the angular measurements have been refined, and for Betelgeuse, the apparent diameter is determined from 0.056 to 0.059 arcseconds, which restores to it the lost positions of the largest visible star. It's not so easy to push the queen of winter skies!
Not surprisingly, Betelgeuse was the first star for which disk photographs were taken. That is, on which the star looked not like a point, but a disk. (That the bright stars appear as disks in the above photograph is a convention of the image, which can only convey a difference in brightness by a difference in size.) The photo was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995.
Here is a historical UV image (NASA/ESA credit):
It is clear that the colors in the photograph are arbitrary: the redder, the colder. A bright spot near the center of the star is considered one of its poles, that is, the axis of rotation of Betelgeuse is directed almost towards us, but slightly to the side.
More recently, namely in July last (2009), new photographs of Betelgeuse were taken with the ground-based Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Here is one of them:
The resulting photos show that Betelgeuse has a tail. This tail stretches for six radii of Betelgeuse itself (comparable to the distance from the Sun to Neptune). What kind of tail it is, why it is there and what it means, scientists themselves do not yet know, although there are many assumptions.
Measuring Betelgeuse
It is interesting to give the main parameters of Betelgeuse. We will see that in almost all respects, Betelgeuse turns out to be one of the “winners” of the known Universe.
In diameter, as already mentioned, Betelgeuse exceeds the Sun by about a thousand times. It is very difficult to accurately determine the diameter and distance from the Sun of a single star, and no satellites have been found in Betelgeuse (although it is very possible that they are, they just cannot be seen next to such a hulk). But Betelgeuse is so huge that its diameter could be measured "directly", i.e. with the help of an interferometer - this operation could be applied to a very small number of stars, and Betelgeuse was the first.
In terms of mass, Betelgeuse exceeds the Sun by about 15 times (from 10 to 20 - to measure the mass of a single star is generally the aerobatics of astrometry, more precisely, it has not yet been possible). How is it that, a thousand times larger in diameter, which means that it is a billion times larger in volume, but only 15 times in mass, what is the density there? But this one. And if we take into account that the core of a star is much denser than its outer layers, then the outer layers of Betelgeuse are much rarer than anything that we can imagine, except for interstellar space, into which Betelgeuse, like almost any star, passes very gradually, i.e. it is impossible to determine exactly where the star ends and interstellar space begins. Nevertheless, fifteen solar masses is quite a lot for a star. Only 120 known stars are heavier than Betelgeuse.
How many times is Betelgeuse brighter than the Sun? One hundred thirty-five thousand times! True, this is taking into account infrared radiation, and in visible light, about a hundred thousand times. That is, if you mentally place Betelgeuse and the Sun at the same distance, Betelgeuse would be a hundred thousand times brighter than the Sun. In the list of the most powerful known stars, Betelgeuse occupies approximately the twenty-fifth position (approximately, because the exact brightness of many hypergiants is not exactly known). If you place Betelgeuse at a standard distance of ten parsecs from the Earth (about 32 light years), then it would be visible during the day, and at night objects would cast shadows in its light. But it’s better not to put it there, because the radiation of a supergiant is such a thing that it’s better for living beings to look at from afar. It seems that the absence of nearby supergiants (of any color) is one of the conditions for life on Earth.
The surface temperature of Betelgeuse is three and a half thousand kelvins (well, ordinary degrees are also close to that). For a star, this is not much; Our Sun has a surface temperature of 5700 K, which is twice as hot. That is, Betelgeuse is a "cold" star, one of the coldest known stars. The temperature of a star determines its color, or rather the shade of its glow. Those mysterious people who manage to see the stars in color unequivocally define the color of Betelgeuse as pronouncedly reddish (see epigraph). That is why Betelgeuse is called a red supergiant. It is not necessary to think that it really is bright red, like a poppy: rather, its surface is yellowish-orange.
Presumably, this is what the surface of Betelgeuse looks like.
I mentioned above that the apparent diameter of Betelgeuse is from 0.056 to 0.059 arcseconds. This variation is not due to inaccurate measurements. And due to the fact that the body of the star itself pulsates with an approximate period of several years, changing both size and brightness. It would be logical to assume that as the size decreases, the brightness of the star will also decrease, but in fact everything happens exactly the opposite: at the minimum size, Betelgeuse acquires maximum brightness. At maximum brightness, Betelgeuse turns out to be brighter than Rigel, whose magnitude is 0.18, that is, the brightest star in the constellation. Therefore, in terms of brilliance, Betelgeuse is fully entitled to the designation Alpha Orion.
In itself, this is not surprising: the heating of a star during compression is a common place in astrophysics (it occurs due to the transition of gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy, who knows the exact wording, correct me). But why is Betelgeuse so pulsating? What kind of processes are going on inside her? Nobody knows.
The short youth of a giant star
Remember we talked about how young Sirius is, only 250 million years old? So, Betelgeuse is a small child compared to Sirius: she is only 10 million years old! When it caught fire, dinosaurs had already died out on Earth long ago, mammals had already taken the main position on land, the continents had already almost taken on their current outlines, the youngest mountain systems (including the Himalayas) were being erected. Realize that the Ural Mountains are much older than Betelgeuse!
But unlike Sirius, which is not clear where it came from, it is very clear where Betelgeuse came from.
Orion is a unique constellation: the stars in it, not only for our eyes, but in reality are quite close to each other in space. And they are close in age too. The fact is that most of Orion is occupied by a giant nebula - the Molecular Cloud of Orion, in which intensive star formation processes are taking place (that is, it is a “stellar cradle”, besides, almost the closest to Earth). Young stars scatter from this nebula in all directions. Of these young, hot blue stars, exemplary peers, relatively close to the place of their birth, Orion consists.
But if all the other stars in Orion are hot to blue (which is typical for young stars), then why is Betelgeuse red?
Because it's very big.
The lifetime of a star is determined by how long it takes hydrogen to completely convert to helium in the star's core. (people, educational program about why the stars are burning, do you need to write?) It would seem that the larger and heavier the star, the more hydrogen it contains, and the longer it should burn. But here again, the opposite is true: the larger and heavier the star, the higher the temperature in its core and the faster the thermonuclear reaction goes there. Since Betelgeuse was born heavier and larger than its peers Rigel, Bellatrix and other stars of Orion, the hydrogen in its core burned faster and burned out in just a few million years. And after the burning out of hydrogen in the core, the star enters the dying stage - the transformation into a red giant. In the case of Betelgeuse, it has evolved into a red supergiant.
That is, despite the fact that Betelgeuse is one of the youngest stars in the Universe in terms of age, it is already on the verge of death. Alas, large hot stars do not live very long, outliving their turbulent life in just a few million years. There are several more red hypergiants that have entered the last phase of their development, but they are all very far from us. Therefore, Betelgeuse provides a unique, albeit sad, opportunity to study the last phase of a star's life from a relatively close distance.
Betelgeuse is known to have shrunk in diameter by 15 percent over the past 15 years. This is a constant contraction, not associated with pulsations. Mathematical models stars say that such a reduction in size is also a sign that the end of the star's evolution is approaching.
What will happen to Betelgeuse next? This is not the peaceful Sirius-Main, now Sirius B, who simply quietly threw off his scarlet shells and turned into a white dwarf. The mass of Betelgeuse is so great that it will have to throw off the shells in one of the grandest explosions that are known to the Universe - in the outbreak of a supernova.
And it will be the closest supernova to the Earth, perhaps for the entire time of the existence of the Earth. Precisely because there is not and has not been a single supergiant closer: supergiants are doomed to end their evolution in supernova explosions, supernova remnants are characteristic and easily identified, and so there is not a single one nearby.
When it will be? Betelgeuse will explode within the next millennium. Possibly tomorrow.
How will it look like? Instead of a shining point in the sky, a disk of dazzling brightness will appear, which will be visible during the day, and at night it will be possible to read by its light. This disk will slowly fade, and the night sky will probably return to normal in a few months. In place of Betelgeuse, a nebula of amazing beauty will appear, which will be visible to the naked eye for several years. Then nothing will be visible.
What will be left of Betelgeuse? No, not a white dwarf - it's too heavy for that. will remain neutron star(pulsar) or black hole.
How will this affect life on Earth? Most likely not. Betelgeuse is far enough from Earth for the hard radiation from a supernova to dissipate into space before reaching solar system, and what will fly will be reflected by the solar magnetosphere. Only if the axis of rotation of Betelgeuse was directed directly to the Earth, then hard gamma radiation would painfully whip through the biosphere. But we know from Hubble photographs that Betelgeuse's axis of rotation is away from the Earth. So the heavenly fireworks can be admired from the Earth quite safely.
The same fate awaits Rigel, Bellatrix and the other bright stars of Orion over the next tens of millions of years. Before becoming a red supergiant, Betelgeuse was obviously a hot blue star like them. They will be replaced by young stars, still hidden from us in the depths of the Molecular Cloud of Orion.
Other photos of the star can be found.
Betelgeuse is the second brightest star in the constellation Orion and a red supergiant: description and characteristics with photos, facts, color, coordinates, latitude, supernova. Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) is the second brightest star in Orion and the 9th in the sky. It is a red supergiant, 643 light years distant. Ends its existence and will explode as a supernova in the near future...Before you is a large, bright and massive star, which is easy to see in the winter. Lives in the shoulder of the constellation Orion opposite Bellatrix. You will know where the Betelgeuse star is if you use our online star map.
Betelgeuse is considered a variable star and periodically outshines Rigel. The name comes from the Arabic translation "hand of Orion". Modern Arabic "al-Jabbar" means "giant". The translators confused Y for B and the name "Betelgeuse" appeared only as a mistake. Further you will learn about the distance to the star Betelgeuse, its latitude, coordinates, class, declination, color and luminosity level with photos and diagrams.
Betelgeuse is in Orion's right shoulder (top left). If placed in our system, it will go beyond the asteroid belt and touch the orbital path of Jupiter.
Refers to the spectral type M2Iab, where "lab" indicates that we are dealing with a supergiant with an intermediate luminosity. The absolute value reaches -6.02. The mass fluctuates between 7.7-20 times that of the sun. The age is 10 million years, and the average luminosity is 120,000 times the solar indicator.
The apparent value changes from 0.2-1.2 in 400 days. Because of this, it periodically bypasses Procyon and takes the 7th position in terms of brightness. At the peak of luminosity, Rigel outshines, and at the dim period it falls below Deneb and becomes the 20th.
The absolute value of Betelgeuse varies from -5.27 to -6.27. The outer layers expand and contract, causing temperatures to rise and fall. The pulsation occurs due to the unstable atmospheric layer. When absorbed, it absorbs more energy.
The collage depicts the constellation of Orion (the arrow points to Betelgeuse), the approach to Betelgeuse, and the most accurate image of the supergiant obtained by the ESO telescope
There are several pulsation cycles with short-term differences of 150-300 days, and long-term ones cover 5.7 years. The star is rapidly losing mass, so it is covered by a huge shell of material, which makes it difficult to observe.
In 1985, two satellites were noticed in orbit around the star, but then they could not be confirmed. Betelgeuse is easy to find because it is located in Orion. From September to March, it is visible from any point on Earth, except for 82°S. For residents of the northern hemisphere, the star will rise in the east after sunset in January. In summer, she hides behind the Sun, so she cannot be seen.
Supernova and star Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse has come to the end of its evolutionary development and will explode as a type II supernova in the next million years. This will result in a visual magnitude of -12 and last for a couple of weeks. The last supernova, SN 1987A, could be seen without instruments, although it occurred in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 168,000 light-years distant. Betelgeuse will not harm the system, but will give an unforgettable celestial spectacle.
Although the star is young, it has practically used up its fuel supply. Now it shrinks and increases internal heating. This resulted in the melting of helium into carbon and oxygen. As a result, an explosion will occur and a 20-kilometer neutron star will remain.
The final star always depends on the mass. The exact figure remains vague, but many believe that it exceeds the Sun by 10 times.
Facts about the star Betelgeuse
Let's look at interesting facts about the star Betelgeuse with a photo and a view of the stellar neighbors in the constellation of Orion. If you want more details, then use our 3D models that allow you to independently move among the stars of the galaxy.
Included in two winter asterisms. Occupies the upper corner of the Winter Triangle.
Stars of the Winter Triangle
The remaining corners are assigned to Procyon and Sirius. Betelgeuse is also part of the Winter Hexagon along with Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Capella, Aldebaran and Rigel.
In 2013, it was thought that Betelgeuse would crash into a "cosmic wall" of interstellar dust in 12,500 years.
Betelgeuse is part of the Orion OB1 Association, whose stars share regular motion and uniform speed through space. The red supergiant is thought to have changed its course because its path does not intersect with star-forming regions. May be a runaway member that appeared about 10-12 million years ago in the Orion molecular cloud.
This is an image of the dramatic nebula around bright red supergiant Betelgeuse. Formed from images of the VISIR infrared camera on the Very Large Telescope. The structure resembles a flame and emerges from the star as it ejects its material into space. The tiny red circle extends 4.5 times from Earth's orbit and represents the visible area of Betelgeuse's surface. The black disk corresponds to the bright part of the frame and is masked to show the nebula.
The star moves in space with an acceleration of 30 km/s. As a result, a shock wave was formed with a length of 4 light years. The wind pushes huge gas volumes at a speed of 17 km / s. They managed to display it in 1997, and the formation is about 30,000 years old.
Alpha Orionis is the brightest near-IR source in the sky. Only 13% of the energy is displayed in visible light. In 1836, John Herschel noted stellar variability. In 1837, the star eclipsed Rigel and repeated this in 1839. It was because of this that in 1603 Johann Bayer mistakenly gave Betelgeuse the designation "alpha" (as the brightest).
The star Betelgeuse is believed to have begun existence 10 million years ago as a hot blue O-type star. And the initial mass exceeded the solar mass by 18-19 times. Until the 20th century, the name was recorded as "Betelje" and "Betelgeuse".
An image from 2010 shows the nebulous complex of the Orion Molecular Cloud. Also visible are the red supergiant Betelgeuse (top left) and Orion's Belt, which includes Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. Rigel lives below, and the red crescent is Bernard's loop
Betelgeuse has been fixed in different cultures under different names. In Sanskrit, it is written as "bahu", because the Hindus saw a deer or an antelope in the constellation. In China, Shenksia is the "fourth star" as a reference to Orion's belt. In Japan - Heike-boshi as a tribute to the Heike clan, who took the star as a symbol of their kind.
In Brazil, the star was called Zhilkavai - a hero whose wife tore his leg. In northern Australia, she was nicknamed "Owl Eyes", and in South Africa- A lion hunting three zebras.
Supergiant Betelgeuse, captured by the NACO instrument on the Very Large Telescope. When combined with the “lucky imaging” technique, it is possible to get the clearest image of a star even with turbulence that distorts the image with the atmosphere. The expansion is 37 milli-arc seconds. The frame was obtained based on data from the near-IR region and the application of various filters
Betelgeuse is also featured in various feature films and books. So the hero of "Beetlejuice" shares a name with the star. Betelgeuse became the home system for Zaford Beeblebrox from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Kurt Vonnegut has a star in Titan's Sirens, as does Pierre Boulle in Planet of the Apes.
Betelgeuse star size
It is difficult to determine the parameters, but the diameter covers approximately 550-920 solar. The star is so huge that it exhibits a disk in telescopic observations.
Artistic interpretation of the supergiant Betelgeuse, information about which was obtained Very Big Telescope. It can be seen that the star has a large gas plume. Moreover, it is so large that it covers the territory of our system. These findings are important because they help to understand how such monsters eject material at high speed. The scale is left in units of radius and comparison with the solar system
The radius was measured using an infrared spatial interferometer, which showed a mark of 3.6 AU. In 2009, Charles Townes announced that since 1993, the star has shrunk by 15%, but has not lost its brightness. Most likely, this is caused by the activity of the shell in the extended atmospheric layer. Scientists have found at least 6 shells around the star. In 2009, a gas release was recorded at a distance of 30 AU.
Alpha Orionis became the second star after the Sun, where it was possible to calculate the angular size of the photosphere. This was done by A. Michelson and F. Paise in 1920. But the numbers were inaccurate due to attenuation and measurement errors.
The diameter is difficult to calculate due to the fact that we are dealing with a pulsating variable, which means that the indicator will always change. In addition, it is difficult to determine the stellar edge and photosphere, since the object is surrounded by a shell of ejected material.
Comparison of the sizes of Betelgeuse (large dull red sphere in the orbital path of Jupiter) and R Doradus (red ball inside the Earth's orbit). Also marked are the orbits of Mars, Venus, Mercury and the stars - Rigel and Aldebaran. The faint yellow sphere has a radius of 1 light minute. Yellow ellipses - planetary orbits
It was previously believed that Betelgeuse has the largest angular diameter. But later they did a calculation in R Doradus and now Betelgeuse is in 3rd place. In radius, it extends to 5.5 AU, but can be reduced to 4.5 AU.
Distance of the star Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse resides 643 light years away in the constellation Orion. In 1997, it was believed that the indicator was 430 light years, and in 2007 they put it at 520. But the exact figure remains a mystery, because direct measurement of parallax shows 495 light years, and the addition of natural radio emission shows 640 light years. Data from 2008 taken by the VLA suggested 643 light years.
Color index - (B-V) 1.85. That is, if you wanted to know what color Betelgeuse is, then we have a red star.
The photosphere has an expanded atmosphere. As a result, blue emission lines appear, not absorption lines. Even ancient observers knew about the red color. So Ptolemy in the 2nd century gave a clear description of the color. But even 3 centuries before him, Chinese astronomers described the color yellow. This does not indicate an error, because earlier the star could be a yellow supergiant.
Betelgeuse star temperature
The surface of Betelgeuse warms up to 3140-4641 K. The atmospheric index is 3450 K. The gas cools with expansion.
Physical characteristics and orbit of the star Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse is the Alpha of Orion.
Constellation: Orion.
Coordinates: 05h 55m 10.3053s (right ascension), + 07° 24" 25.426" (declination).
Spectral type: M2Iab.
Magnitude (visible spectrum): 0.42 (0.3-1.2).
Value: (J-band): -2.99.
Absolute value: -6.02.
Distance: 643 light years.
Variable type: SR (semi-regular variable).
Massiveness: 7.7-20 solar.
Radius: 950-1200 solar.
Luminosity: 120,000 solar.
Temperature mark: 3140-3641 K.
Rotation speed: 5 km/s.
Age: 7.3 million years.
Name: Betelgeuse, Alpha Orioni, α Orioni, 58 Orona, HR 2061, BD + 7° 1055, HD 39801, FK5 224, HIP 27989, SAO 113271, GC 7451, CCDM J05552+0724AP, AAVSO 0549+07.
